Questions to Guide Manifest Destiny Readings

1. How specifically does O’Sullivan contrast America with other great civilizations? What makes us unique? How does this relate to the concept of exceptionalism that we have been discussing?
2. Summarize the five specific pressures driving American expansion in the 1830s-1850s. Why did Mexico not develop and tie northern Mexico more closely to the core of Mexican society.
3. In what ways was this drive for expansion a part of the larger Romantic movement of the 19th century?
4. What technological advances helped keep the bonds of Union strong as distances grew greater?
5. Explain this statement by Mr. González Quiroga: “Manifest Destiny was a graceful way to justify something unjustifiable.” What main challenge is he making to the traditional view that these lands were “empty” and “uncivilized?”